BFG 9000

Lore & Background

The BFG is a fictional weapon created by id Software. It is largely found in their first-person shooter video games Doom and Quake. The abbreviation stands for 'Big Fucking Gun', as described in Tom Hall's original Doom design document and in the user manual of Doom II: Hell on Earth. The Quake II manual says it stands for 'Big, Uh, Freakin' Gun'. Another version of the name used in the Doom motion picture is 'Bio Force Gun'. The versions found in the Doom games are called 'BFG 9000' and those in Quake 'BFG 10K' (notably, the weapon in Quake is the BFG 10K, not the BFG 9000).

In Their Own Story

The marine stepped into the chamber, the air thick with ozone and the sweet stench of decay. Before him, a horde of demons clawed at the air, their eyes burning with malice. With a squeeze of the trigger, a green orb of pure spite erupted from the barrel, humming with a low, predatory drone. It drifted lazily toward the demons, who turned to flee too late. The orb detonated, engulfing the room in a blinding flash, leaving only silence and a fine layer of ash.

Reader's Guide

In the first commercial Doom game, the BFG9000 is a large energy weapon that fires giant balls of green plasma as well as 40 invisible rays in a cone shape. It is the most powerful weapon in the game, causing major damage to most types of enemies and can clear an entire room of foes in one shot, or deal huge damage to singular enemies. In the first Doom, the weapon can only be picked up in the third and fourth episodes. The BFG 9000 also appears virtually unchanged in Doom II: Hell on Earth, Final Doom, Doom 64, and Doom RPG. In Doom 3, the BFG 9000 is a charged weapon: holding down the trigger causes the weapon to accumulate energy before release, resulting in a more powerful shot. Overcharging the BFG will cause it to overheat and explode, killing the player instantly.

Did You Know?

• The weapon first appeared in the press beta release of Doom, where it released a cloud of 80 small plasma balls per shot, but was scrapped because it 'looked like Christmas' and slowed the game down.
• In the Doom movie, the 'bio force gun' fires a bright blue projectile that bursts on impact and sprays a caustic substance.
• In Doom's 2016 reboot, the BFG fires a large plasma ball that chains lightning to nearby enemies, distinct from Quake II's version (which fires a projectile that shoots beams at enemies).
• In 2020's Doom Eternal, a massive stationary cannon called the BFG 10000 appears mounted on Phobos, not as a handheld weapon or a new version of the BFG 9000 in the same sense.
• UGO.com ranked the BFG 9000 at number two on their list of top video game weapons of all time.